Black Clergy, Big Government and Black Responsibility

Prior to November’s election, a group of black clergy led by Jackie Rivers of the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies delivered a letter to Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters.

The letter questioned how Clinton might have addressed various problems within black communities — like abortion, police brutality, and poor education and economic opportunities.

The letter concluded by requesting a meeting with Clinton during her first 100 days in office to discuss these issues in more detail.

There will be no meeting with the Clinton administration because there will be no Clinton administration. Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States.

In trying to persuade Democrats to take black concerns seriously, black leaders — religious or not — are perpetuating the habit of outsourcing black responsibility. They’re also reinforcing the preoccupation with — and dependence on — government to find solutions to black adversity.

Encouraging politicians to pass legislation addressing education and economic issues is fine. But black religious leaders are wrong to plead with politicians to resolve black moral dysfunction that can and must be principally challenged by local churches in their respective communities.

For example, the clergy letter condemns high abortion rates among blacks. Addressing the effect of abortion, it noted that “blacks account for roughly 38 percent of all abortions in the country though we represent only 13 percent of the population.”

The letter affirms that people are “created in God’s image,” and innocent human life deserves protection against the “deliberate destruction … in its most vulnerable state.”

Clinton would have facilitated more black abortion. She was the recipient of an award named after racial eugenicist Margaret Sanger. Clinton enthusiastically supports abortion up to the point of birth. Democrats are religiously devoted to abortion, and that’s not changing.

Black church leaders are much better positioned to confront the destructive effects of black abortion because it’s a moral problem, and because of their proximity to the problem. The women having these abortions are members of their local communities, churches and religious institutions. The problem and solution of reducing black abortion comes down to moral redemption and black responsibility, which starts with local church leaders redeeming theologies of life that flatly denounce sexually destructive behaviors (including abortion as birth control) and encouraging productive ones; not government intervention.

The same goes for black criminality, which the letter correctly labeled a “calamity,” which encourages police presence in black neighborhoods. But the letter sought action and resolution from the wrong person, party and medium.

Effective policing and commensurate sentencing for criminality are needed. But black churches must repeatedly rebuke the depravity of behaviors that seek death and destruction, or more blacks — particularly the innocent — will suffer predictable consequences. Black churches must reject the tradition of silence when it comes to condemning or excusing black criminality, which condones the very community-destroying behaviors these black Christians were spotlighting.

Black churches must also strongly repudiate the cultural disorders and criminal stereotypes that draw the eye and ire of law enforcement. Black churches should re-emphasize a Christian temperament that includes family stability, fatherhood, self-respect, personal responsibility, and the love of neighbor to lessen black criminality and tension-filled police responses.

We’re obligated to control the things that are within our power to control. This includes admitting that some blacks are sabotaging black society, but also that blacks can restore black society, which would demonstrate real black empowerment, improving America in the process.

Black churches need to emphasize the gospel — and other resources — that are instrumental in changing lives and overcoming the negative aspects of black culture.

Blacks must stop preserving the posture of weakness and helplessness, and depending on politics to save us.

Black faith leaders have been called and entrusted to bear witness to the transformative nature of the Christian gospel. Petitioning the altar of government for restoration implies that the gospel of Christ is pragmatically insufficient when compared to the gospel of big government.

We must remember — salvation is from God, not the government.

About the Author

Derryck Green is a political commentator, writer and a member of Project 21 — a National Leadership of Black Conservatives. He earned his Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary, and his doctorate in Theology and Spiritual Leadership with a concentration in Identity Formation from Azusa Pacific University.

4 responses to Black Clergy, Big Government and Black Responsibility

The decision to have an abortion is a personal one. It is made based on many personal conditions. There is no way that a person should decide that another persons’ decision is wrong. Each person is faced with conditions that are not necessarily identical to those of others. It is impossible to put onesself in the shoes or the mind of another and, consequently, decide their decision making is faulty or wrong.

Thank you for your thoughtful op-ed, Derryck. I am a white, Orthodox Jew, who grew up in Upstate NY during the Civil Rights movement, attended public school where 40% of my class was Black as a result of busing, and naturally championed respect for diversity. 50 years on, why is there not a brighter future for American Black children (fortunate enough to be) born today?
Quoting Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the UK: “When bad things happen to a group, its members can ask one of two questions: “What did we do wrong?” or “Who did this to us?” The entire fate of the group will depend on which it chooses. If it asks, “What did we do wrong?” it has begun the self-criticism essential to a free society. If it asks, “Who did this to us?” it has defined itself as a victim. It will then seek a scapegoat to blame for all its problems.”
You are right that the answer has not come, and will not come, from looking to others, and certainly not from the government and its many failed policies. Salvation may indeed involve G-d, but most importantly it emanates from within, within the community, within the family, within the individual: self-reflection, internalizing responsibility, and perseverance over the very long term meaning inter-generational.
With hope, prayers, and optimism for a brighter future for all …